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1

This question is very border line, usually we ask that questions be very pointed, but I will try to answer in the most pointed sense.
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coteyrMay 20 '13 at 19:04

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There are at least 3 questions that should be individually asked in order to receive a better support.
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Geppettvs D'ConstanzoMay 20 '13 at 19:35

HDMA Sound: Sorta I have really good results with my Nvidia card, not that, it will help you any.

eSATA Hotplug: Yes I use in on Ubuntu servers, but should be roughly the same on desktops

Max File System/File size: is highly dependant on configuration. Ext3 for example could support partitions up to 32 TiB. On PCs you probably going to get a max size of 16TiB though. RiserFS is 32TiB. Either way 3 or 8 TB isn't going to be an issue.

Your best best is to try with the liveCD. If it goes smoothly then your in good shape if not, then you have some work cut out for you.